Under The Hammer – Antique Auction News (May 2010)

~ A 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic, one of only four ever made, was sold by Gooding & Company of Santa Monica, California for $30 million to $40 million. Of the two or three of these models that still exist, one is owned by Ralph Lauren. The one sold was owned by the late Dr. Peter Williamson. The buyer and exact amount of the sale were not disclosed.

The Atlantic was the winner of the 2003 Pebble Beach “Concours d’Elegance.”

(Photo, courtesy of Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.)

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~ Bonhams’ auction of the Bloch Collection in Hong Kong successfully sold the entire collection, including an Imperial enamel-on-copper snuff bottle personally commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor for his own use in Beijing. It achieved a record $1,191,505. Also, an inscribed nephrite pebble-material snuff bottle sold for $774,432. The entire collection totaled nearly $8.5 million.

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~ Bonhams on New Bond Street in London recently sold a museum-quality Japanese suit of armor for £120,000. The armor dated from the Edo Period (18th to 19th century); it was accompanied by a 16th century helmet which belonged to an aristocratic Japanese family, the Hotta clan, with links to a shogun. The armor was made of surprising materials: black lacquer, doeskin, white fur, gilded paper, copper and iron.

Also in the auction, a superbly decorated 17th century “nabeshima” dish was the star with a £180,000 price. This large dish, dated circa 1690-1760, is decorated with the eight Buddhist precious emblems: the ribboned “bag of plenty,” hat of invisibility, flywhisk, sword, pair of books, castanets, fan, sho organ, pair of scrolls and tama (jewel).

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~ On May 11, the late author Michael Crichton’s collection of contemporary art was sold at Christie’s. His Jasper Johns’ Flag, 1960-1966, sold for $28.6 million, approximately double the estimate and the highest price ever achieved for a work by Johns at auction. Another record was set for Mark Tansey’s “Push/Pull,” 2003, with a $3.28-million final bid. Ed Ruscha’s “Voltage,” 1964, sold for $1.65 million. Also, Andy Warhol’s “Mao,” 1973, reached $2.37 million.

Jasper Johns' Flag

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~ On April 27 Swann Galleries’ auction of Old Master through Modern included Rembrandts, of which The Flight into Egypt: Altered from Seghers was the star of the show. This scarce etching, engraving, and drypoint, circa 1653 hammered for $72,000, including buyer’s premium. Other Rembrandt self-portraits sold well: “Self Portrait with Curly Hair and White Collar: Bust,” etching, circa 1630, $36,000; “Self Portrait in a Cap and Scarf with the Face Dark: Bust” etching, 1633, $20,400; and “Self Portrait with Saskia,” etching, 1636, $22,800.

Albrecht Dürer’s “The Prodigal Son,” engraving, circa 1496, and “The Four Horsemen,” woodcut, 1498, each sold for $21,600.

Highlights from 19th-century prints were: Camille Pissarro’s “Effet de pluie,” etching and aquatint, 1879, $38,400; Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s “La Danse à la Campagne, 2e planche,” soft-ground etching, circa 1890, $16,800; and several prints by James A.M. Whistler, including “Florence Leyland,” circa 1873, and “The Traghetto, No. 2,” etching on Japan paper, 1880, both for $16,800.
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~ On May 3 and 4, Heritage Galleries Fine Jewelry and Timpieces auctions offered an 11.99-carat, pear-shaped diamond and platinum ring from the collection of Dorothy and Sidney Factor. The diamond’s auction price of $131,450 was donated to charity, as well as all proceeds from the sale, a total of $1.75 million (less 19.5% buyer’s premium).

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~ On May 3, Bonhams & Butterfields’ Made in California auction featured work from the Gold State’s leading modern and contemporary artists: Ruth Asawa, Fletcher Benton, Peter Alexander, Guy Dill, and Jacob Hashimoto among others.

The highlights: included a bronze nude by Robert Graham sold for $97,600; a looped-wire sculpture by Ruth Asawa sold for $91,500; an abstract bronze by Guy Dill hammered at $39,650; and a looped-wire sculpture by Ruth Asawa sold for $91,500.

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~ Bonham’s of New York held a sale of European Furniture & Decorative Arts on April 27, featuring French and Continental porcelain urns from the Woodmere Art Museum of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A pair of gilt bronze-mounted Sevres-style porcelain Napoleonic urns from the Woodmere collection doubled the estimate of $40,000 to $60,000 and sold for $128,000. One urn depicts the marriage of Napoleon I to Archduchess Marie-Louise, and the second depicts the coronation of the Empress Josephine by Napoleon, signed by J. Pascault, and with chateau landscapes painted on the reverse of each.
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~ Christie’s sale, Prints and Multiples, on April 26 and 27 was highlighted by Edvard Munch’s, “Madonna,” lithograph with woodcut, which sold for $494,500. Also, Marc Chagalls, “Four Tales from Arabian Nights,” a complete set of twelve signed and numbered lithographs in colors, 1948, exceeded estimate and hammered at $314,500.

Also, Christie’s Fine Musical Instruments sale on April 28 yielded a world auction record for Gasparo Bertolotti da Saló with a $542,500 price for a circa 1575 viola made in Brescia, Italy. A violin made in Milan, circa 1753, by Giovanni Baptista Guadagnini sold for the same price.